Adherence of clinicians to guidelines for the prescription of antipsychotic drugs to people with intellectual disabilities

Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities,Volume 11, Issue 3, May 2017. Purpose Antipsychotic drugs are frequently prescribed to people with intellectual disabilities to ameliorate psychotic symptoms and behavioural symptoms with and without mental condition. Guidelines recommend systematic evaluation of treatment effects and adverse effects, and limiting the treatment duration. Studies have shown that adherence to prescription guidelines is beneficial for clients ’ outcomes. Therefore, we set up a study to investigate the adherence to antipsychotic drug prescription guidelines in two treatment settings. Design/methodology/approach A checklist, based on existing antipsychotic drug prescription guidelines, was used to evaluate the adherence of prescribers to guidelines in two settings in the Netherlands, i.e., in specialized Intellectual disability care organizations and mental health care organizations. Data from medical records of clients who used antipsychotic drugs (N=299) were compared to the items of the checklist. Findings Treatment effects were measured with validated scales in both settings in only 2.7%. Prescriptions were for problem behaviour in absence of a psychotic disorder or psychotic symptoms in 90% (specialized Intellectual disability care) and in 79% (mental health care) of cases. In specialized Intellectual disability care pipamperone (31.9%) and in mental health care risperidone (48.5%) was most often prescribed. Adverse effects were mon...
Source: Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities - Category: Disability Source Type: research